"Swimming with Sharks" was made right around the time Kevin Spacey was becoming a rising star - his name was becoming well known enough that he could help finance low budget movies. Along with "The Usual Suspects" he helped "Swimming with Sharks" get off the ground, and now ten years later (it was given wide release in 1995) it still holds up well as a very, very dark comedy.
In fact, comedy isn't the right word. This shouldn't really be classified as comedy. It's not that funny. It works better as a dark satire - I expected something like "War of the Roses," but instead I got a Tarantino version of "Office Space" (complete with torture, violence, revenge and mayhem!).
Frank Whaley stars as Guy, a typical nobody who dreams of being a somebody. (Even his name confines him to anonymity.) When he lands a job working for world-famous producer Buddy Ackerman (Spacey), his future looks bright...until he realizes what he's in for.
Spacey delivers the best performance of the film, yelling, screaming, and throwing hissy fits practically every time he's on screen. But he never pushes the limits. He's always believable as a self-absorbed, ego-maniacal, ruthless producer; the director claims on the DVD commentary track and documentaries that he based the character and many scenes on actual things that happened to him while he worked for unnamed producers in Hollywood. Joel Silver is rumored to have been the basis for Ackerman.
The movie isn't great and never really achieves the amount of laughs I wanted but if you view it as a very dark drama-comedy you're more likely to enjoy it. I still found myself quite entertained and taken aback by how daring and unique this movie actually is - no one can condemn it for resorting to clichés. The ending is a punch in the stomach, I never expected it.
Whaley is good at playing the over/underwhelmed everyman and the direction is OK (if just so). The best aspects are the witty script and Kevin Spacey's scene-stealing performance; together he has good chemistry with Whaley and the movie succeeds based on the actors' success in their roles.
